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As a single of the people concerned in the estimates of women in England and Wales impacted by female genital mutilation and the numbers of girls at chance which are currently being utilised in the current campaign, I agree with Nadifa Mohamed (Comment, 10 March) that these are now out of date. They have been based mostly on the 2001 census and surveys accomplished in FGM-practising countries in the late 1990s and the early 2000s. This is why we have been commissioned to make new estimates, primarily based on information from the 2011 census and much more recent surveys. This operate is now underneath way, with the aim of delivering data to make appropriate maternity and gynaecology care offered to impacted girls and little one protection providers, exactly where needed, for their daughters.

Taken as a total, the surveys demonstrate that in some countries, this kind of as Kenya, the practice has declined, while in other people it has not and that in nations in which it is most prevalent, reduced proportions of ladies and girls feel it need to end. They also show wide distinctions amongst geographical locations and social groupings inside of nations, with a lot more-educated girls becoming a lot much less likely to have been impacted. These differences are likely to influence the extent to which the practice is abandoned when girls migrate and underline the want to avoid stereotyping people. For instance, Nadifa Mohamed’s Somali family and other Somali households she knows have abandoned the practice, whilst neighborhood groups tell us that other individuals have not accomplished so.

We have no reputable data for England and Wales. There is no code for FGM in the international classification of ailments, so it is not recorded in national information assortment systems, despite the fact that the Department of Overall health is now making an attempt to alter this. It is reasonable, though not excellent, to use information from migrant women’s nations of origin to estimate the prevalence of FGM amongst them, but applying these assumptions to their daughters is problematic. This signifies that, as in our earlier report, any estimates we make will have to be quite tentative. We hope they will prompt in-depth analysis which will involve migrant communities immediately and inform the eradication of FGM in this country.Alison Macfarlane

City University London

• The one action which would curtail this barbaric practice is compulsory examination of kids. The public’s growing horror above FGM would definitely overtake considerations about civil liberties. In France, the place examination is mandatory, there have been in excess of 100 productive prosecutions. In this nation, nil, but FGM has been unlawful here given that 1985.Michael BerkeleyProperty of Lords